II 84 



The Cornell Reading-Courses 



A NEIGHBORHOOD TRAVEL CLUB 



Elizabeth H. Spalding 



The great steamship swings off. We watch her. She bears away, 

 away, away — to the shores of Araby the Blest, to far Cathay, to some 



land of our heart's desire. If we could only go, 

 too! Shall we? Let us do it. Let us invite 

 three or five or seven others to go with us. Let 

 us form a Travelers' Club. Here is a plan for it, 



THE PLAN 



First of all, it will be frankly acknowledged 

 that although the club intends to gain in- 

 teresting knowledge and exi^erience and to 

 leani much of history and art, yet it is abroad, 

 primarily, for recreation and pleasure. It is not 

 going to bury itself in encyclopedias. It is 

 going to see things and do things ; it is going to 

 travel. 



THE FIRST MEETING 



The first meeting will be devoted to getting 

 ready for the trip and to the voyage itself. 

 An experienced traveler will describe enter- 

 tainingly the necessary preparations for the 

 intended voyage, give a graphic account of daily life on shipboard, and 

 show souvenirs from a former voyage, such as photographs of scenes on 

 the steamer, menus, a concert program, a copy of the daily bulletin 

 printed on the ship. A nonmember will be invited to render such service, 

 if no club member has crossed the ocean.* 



A committee previously appointed by the club will have gathered from 

 various sources — from home and public libraries — a collection of novels 

 and other entertaining as well as suitable books. Each member of the 

 club may take home one or two of them, to read before the next meeting, 

 in his imagined steamer chair, on an imagined deck. Books that tell 

 about life on a steamship would be pertinent, such as: " On blue waters " 

 by Amicis; " An amateur emigrant " by Stevenson (which gives a glimpse 



Fig. 55. — New York Harbor 



* Few know, perhaps, how generally helpful libraries wish to be. When the plan for a travelers' club 

 outlined in this article was explained to the head of a free library, she said: "I .shall be glad to go to the 

 opening meeting of such a club, to tell the would-be travelers what I know about ocean travel, and to 

 give them a ' Bon xoyagel ' " 



